Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
Alternate OpeningHermione was quite disoriented. "Ginny…Ginny! Are you in here?" Oh that's stupid. Why would she be in here? For all I know, she could have fallen into a different area, or she could have left for help. No, she wouldn't; we'd both get into some serious trouble. Ginny Weasley! I really wish I didn't get mixed up in your ridiculous schemes right now! ARGH!
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Ginny was quite disoriented. Why the heck does he have a small stone room under his office? She travelled further and further into the small stone passageway, deeper and deeper into God knows where I'm going. "Hermione? Hermione! Are you in here?"
Why on earth would she be in here anyway? Oh, me and my stupid brain! ARGH!
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Hermione was worried. "What if no one finds me? What if I'm left here to die? How long does someone last without food or water again? Oh I think I'm getting dizzy! Oh, I think I'm fainting! Oh I think…"
"I FOUND YOU!"
"Oh, no, now I think I'm hearing voices."
"Hermione, it's me!"
"Ginny?"
"Um hm."
"Thank God. Where on earth are we?"
"I have no…"
"LOOK AT THE MESS YOU'VE GOTTEN US INTO!"
"Hermione, I needed to save Sylvester. Do you notice that he's GONE?"
"Yes, but we could be killed here, miles under the school, with no one to find us. What'll we do? We're down here, lost…"
Ginny stared about her. "We may be down here, Hermione, but we're not lost."
"What do you mean 'not lost'? Have you been sneaking down into Snape's office?"
"Of course not. I wouldn't be looking for the potions cabinet if I had been."
"Where are we?"
"I remember here. This is where he took me when…"
"Well where w…oh my God." She pointed a shaking finger at a large stone statue of an imperious-looking (and somewhat intimidating) man.
Ginny looked, and fainted. A rotting Basilisk corpse lay at the foot of the statue.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
Ginny woke about twenty minutes later.
"Oh, you're okay!"
After a few pleasantries, Ginny frowned, as though she had realised something.
"Listen, Hermione, I've figured it out."
"What?"
"Dad told me about the old Potions Master here, fifty years ago, a bit before his time, but not too much. It was this fat old man called Horace Slughorn."
"Right, okay, so?"
"One minute. Dad muttered in passing that Slughorn was always comparing him to Tom, some student who'd come to Hogwarts before."
"What do you mean?"
"Saying things to the teachers, stuff like, 'Enthusiastic, but a bit too enthusiastic, don't you think, Dippet? Definitely not with Tom's brains.' And then Dippet, the headmaster at the time, I think, would say, 'Ah yes, Tom. Fascinating boy.' So you see? Tom must have been Tom Riddle. He was probably invited to Slughorn's office all the time, so he knew the place well. And he found the entrance to the Chamber, I mean, you don't usually see the Head Boy and top student sneaking about a girls' bathroom, right?"
"That's absurd, but it…"
"What?"
"It makes sense, somehow. Wow."
"Never mind that, why didn't it come and finish off Snape? Do everyone a favour…"
"Ginny!"
"Well it's true."
"Let's just concentrate on getting out of here."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
A/N: Well, even if no one likes it, I thought the alternate-route-to-the-Chamber theory was pretty cool. Goodbye, I shall work on another chapter another day.
